Getting rid of the hair on your face isn’t necessarily as complicated as you think. And getting a perfect trim around a moustache, goatee or sideburns is easy when you know about dry shaving. When you have the right personal trimmer and take the time to understand the benefits of dry shaving as well as its limitations, you can look your best in less time and with less effort than you ever thought possible.
Just the idea of dry shaving may sound painful and unpleasant to you, but it’s really easy and works well for many different kinds of guys. You may not believe this at first, but this process can give you can get a shave that’s just as close as wet shaving.
Ready to learn more? It all starts with getting a personal trimmer that’s intended for the purpose and works as it should. This is something entirely different than an electric razor, as you’re about to learn.
Wet Shaving Isn’t For Everyone
For men with very heavy facial hair growth, wet shaving may be the only way to get a close shave if the stubble look isn’t desired. But for all other guys — those with moderate growth, fine hair or patchy facial hair — dry shaving can do the trick. And the results really are as good as shaving with a razor.
As many as 25 percent of men choose to dry shave, and many of those do it with some form of electric razor. But that’s not how all of them get a close shave. Some use a personal trimmer like barbers and hair stylists use to get a close cut for their clients every day. This works especially well for guys with a goatee, beard or other facial hair that they want to trim around. The right trimmer means they can complete the whole process without ever needing a razor.
Wet shaving has the advantage of helping exfoliate the skin. And shaving cream used for wet shaving often has a conditioner that can improve the softness of the skin. On the other hand, this process can be irritating, and after a few days of dry shaving, your face will thank you for making a change. Using the wrong trimmer can pull and tear your skin, leaving you worse off than ever, and you certainly don’t want that.
My Andis Outliner Review
The Andis Professional Outliner II Personal Trimmer
Sometimes, maintaining carefully trimmed facial hair can be a pain because clean lines are almost impossible. Razor shaving around facial hair never works, and most trimmers won’t cut close enough to the skin for clean lines.
The Andis outliner is a personal trimmer that changes all of that. It cuts so closely that the results look just like a razor shave on me — and on most guys. The blades are much sharper and cut much faster and closer than regular groomers.
And since it can be used for a variety of things — including manscaping in those so-called “sensitive areas” and keeping your chest, legs and arms looking great too — it can be your only trimmer. That means it’s great for traveling and for those who are on a tight budget.
Specific features worth mentioning include:
- An 80-year history of quality at Andis
- An 8-foot cord that makes reaching everywhere easy
- Sharp, fine blades for close cutting
- A contoured housing that makes it easy to hold
- A high-speed motor for quick cutting on the first pass
- Cool blades that won’t burn or sting your face
- Quiet operation so you don’t wake others
- And more.
A Serious Trimmer For Serious Guys
There’s something I especially like about this trimmer that’s actually an advantage too: it’s corded. While cordless trimmers are better than ever before, this trimmer needs lots of power, and the cord is an adequate length to get the job done anywhere on your body.
Also, the Andis Outliner isn’t something that’s meant to be used for a few months and then thrown away. It’s a serious trimmer, but still the price is about the same as many other cheaply made trimmers.
Because this is a real trimmer for real guys, you can get extra parts, special combs and all kinds of additional and replacement parts. Andis has been making this trimmer and ones like it for years and has a wide network of support services and products, including replacement blades, so this trimmer can be a part of your life for many years.
If you look around any barbershop or salon, you’ll see that most clippers are from Andis. It’s the top brand among stylists because of the durability and long lifespan.
For Dry Shaving Another Way
It’s also better at handling contours than most other models. While personal trimmers do great on a variety of facial surfaces, some electric razors don’t do contours very well.
I also like the new-type lithium-ion battery in this rotary razor. It can go at top speed for half an hour or more without slowing down. Most trimmer can’t do anything like that — and that’s more than long enough. A shave should take four or five minutes. You may find that shaving with an electric razor leaves you feeling a bit red or raw the first few days, but there’s no reason to panic: things will get better quickly. You might also benefit from a pre-shape prep lotion or oil.
While there’s a long-standing debate about whether rotary trimmers are best or foil blades are the smartest idea, one isn’t necessarily better than the other. There are some great foil trimmers, but I happen to think this rotary electric razor is better than any of them.
If you don’t choose the model I recommend, remember that Braun and Philips are the biggest names in electric razors, so you’ll do best sticking with these two brands.
Learning More about Dry Shaving
At first, you probably winced at the idea of dry shaving. It just sounds painful. This process of shaving with no water and no shaving cream or foam is a much better idea for many guys than it sounds, however. You just have to understand it better for it to make sense to you.
So what makes it a good idea? Here are some advantages of dry shaving:
- Quick. With no cream or shave oil needed, you can do the job in minutes and get on with your day — without having to take a shower unless you want to. Just remember that washing off the trimmed hair from your face thoroughly can help prevent acne breakouts and reduce the look of flaky skin. You may want to apply a moisturizer after dry shaving as well.
- No nicks. While cuts and nicks are hard for some guys to avoid, dry shaving usually eliminates the problem, especially if you have uneven skin that makes getting a good wet shave difficult. While the first time dry shaving can be a little uncomfortable, it’s gentler on your face in the long run than shaving with a razor.
- Less expensive. With no razors and cream or foam to buy all the time, you save money in just a few weeks. And good personal trimmers and electric razors last for years without much maintenance. To get a good razor shave, you need to use an expensive shaving product and change or sharpen blades frequently. Personal trimmer blades are made so that sharpening is never or rarely required.
When you take the time to consider the benefits of this process over wet shaving, you can see that there’s a reason so many guys make this their usual way of getting the look they desire.
Final Thoughts On Dry Shaving With A Personal Trimmer
It’s very important if you plan to dry shave with a personal trimmer that you choose a good model. Daily use can dull the blades of some models, but the best models are actually used in barbershops and salons and made to withstand daily use on a variety of hair types without failing.
At most salons, the stylists and barbers must buy their own clippers, so you may see more than one brand in use. But the most experienced stylists will have an Andis Outliner or another Andis model, and they’ll tell you that it’s the same one they bought when the first started out.
If you like to be clean shaven, you may or may not like the results you get from dry shaving with a personal trimmer. Only experimenting can help you learn for sure, and most guys get great results. But if you have a goatee or beard, dry shaving the rest of your face with a trimmer can simplify the process of looking your best. While an electric razor can’t get close enough to your facial hair to give you good results, the Andis Outliner can do a great job for you.
Once you buy an Andis Outliner, you’ll see how it’s very different than an electric razor and also very different from other types of beard trimmers. And you may be like the millions of guys who prefer dry shaving with this model of personal trimmer to messing with creams, foams, razors and all the problems that come with them.
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